Oldowan stone tools

E546562

Oldowan stone tools are some of the earliest known human-made stone implements, characterized by simple flaking techniques used by early hominins for cutting and processing tasks.

All labels observed (6)

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (56)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Paleolithic technology
archaeological culture
stone tool industry
alsoKnownAs Mode 1 technology
Oldowan industry
linked to: Oldowan stone tools
approximateEndDate about 1.2 million years ago
archaeologicalSite Dmanisi, Georgia
linked to: Dmanisi

Gona, Ethiopia
Hadar, Ethiopia
Koobi Fora, Kenya
linked to: Koobi Fora

Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
linked to: Olduvai Gorge

Ubeidiya, Israel
associatedWith cognitive development in early Homo
early meat-eating behavior
expansion of hominins out of Africa
characterizedBy irregular core shapes
large cutting edges
simple flaking techniques
unifacial flaking
culturalSignificance earliest widely accepted stone tool tradition
earliestEvidenceDate about 2.6 million years ago
earliestEvidencePlace Gona, Ethiopia
evidenceType cut marks on animal bones
lithic artifacts
use-wear analysis
followedBy Acheulean stone tools
geographicDistribution Africa
Eurasia
includes choppers
cores
flakes
pounded pieces
scrapers
madeFrom basalt
chert
flint
local cobbles and pebbles
quartz
manufacturingTechnique direct freehand percussion
hard hammer percussion
namedAfter Olduvai Gorge
precededBy Lomekwian stone tools
primaryFunction breaking bones for marrow
butchering animal carcasses
cutting meat
processing plant materials
technologicalComplexity relatively simple
timePeriodEnd early Middle Pleistocene
timePeriodStart Lower Paleolithic
toolMorphology limited standardization of shapes
simple, chunky forms
usedBy Homo erectus
Homo habilis
Paranthropus species
linked to: Paranthropus

early Homo
early hominins

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (11)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Swartkrans knownFor Oldowan stone tools
Dmanisi archaeologicalCulture Oldowan-like industry
linked to: Oldowan stone tools
Koobi Fora knownFor Oldowan stone tools
Koobi Fora toolIndustryEvidence Oldowan
linked to: Oldowan stone tools
Oldowan stone tools alsoKnownAs Oldowan industry
linked to: Oldowan stone tools
Swartkrans toolIndustry Oldowan
subject linked to: SK
linked to: Oldowan stone tools
Homo rudolfensis associatedWith Oldowan stone tool culture (indirectly)
linked to: Oldowan stone tools
Homo antecessor associatedWith Oldowan-like industry
linked to: Oldowan stone tools
Homo habilis associatedTechnology Oldowan stone tools
Soanian culture comparedWith Oldowan industry
linked to: Oldowan stone tools
Skull 5 associatedWith Oldowan stone tools at Dmanisi
linked to: Oldowan stone tools